Fedora Looking To Offer Better Upstream Solution For Hiding/Showing GRUB Menu

Fedora for the past few releases doesn't show the GRUB boot-loader menu by default when only Fedora is installed on the system as there is little purpose for most users and it just interrupts the boot flow. But for those wanting to access the GRUB bootloader menu on reboot, they offer integration in GNOME to easily reboot into this menu. The other exception is the menu will be shown if the previous boot failed. This functionality has relied on downstream patches but now they are working towards a better upstream solution.

Hans de Goede of Red Hat who led the original GRUB hidden boot menu functionality is looking to clean up this feature for Fedora 33. The hope is to get the relevant bits upstream into GNOME and systemd for avoiding the downstream patches they have been carrying. This reduces their technical debt and also makes it easier for other distributions to provide similar functionality.

For the new upstream solution they are looking at making use of a newer systemd D-Bus API for rebooting the system with the boot loader menu timeout specified. The other aspect of signaling the boot loader boot was a success would involve systemd Automatic Boot Assessment capabilities. But the current systemd Automatic Boot Assessment is fitted for SD-Boot rather than GRUB, so there are additional steps involved.

Those interested in finding out more about the planned Fedora work in this area to get it cleaned up and upstream can see this change proposal for Fedora 33.